MALTE ZENSES

Lips (woman reading)
Sep. 15 - Oct. 01, 2016

The works of Malte Zenses function as a subtle interface between conventional genres and thus question these genres and their boundaries in an interdisciplinary artistic discourse. He combines traditional elements of sculpturing with different image carriers, so that they face and interfere with each other.

Of particular importance is the artist’s purpose to draw attention to the general conditions of the artistic production process. Therefore he uses material that entails a changing and display-like character. Moreover, many of his canvases remain untreated or only receive a basic glazing and deliberately reveal traces of use, whereby their materiality is foregrounded.
In his paintings, Malte Zenses often plays with tokens and symbols, which are not easily decoded by the spectator und hence remain his signum, fragmentary and characteristic for his art. In almost all of his works one finds abstract line formations, which rather seem to originate from sketching than from painting. Many of these forms – in their vague positioning on the canvas – remind of passing and dissolving landscapes. As these landscapes are repeated over and over, they are unchained from their context and fade to mere morphological shapes.
Furthermore, the artist frequently combines his pictures’ air of temporariness with concrete, solid floor elements, which then together enter a sort of dyptich-like symbiosis. Judging from their form, these solid elements appear more tangible. However, the nature of their materials, which we usually get to know as framework or display of art, initiates an astounding process of re-coding their own materiality. In the same way as his paintings, other parts of Malte Zenses’ installations support a progressive reversion of polarity concerning the framing nature of art. The onlooker is encouraged to reflect on the momentum of the artistic process, thereby questioning terms like accomplishment or completion in art.